All of the country's main Covid-19 protections – including mask and vaccine requirements – have been dropped, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
The Covid-19 Protection Framework, or traffic light system, ended from 11.59pm last night.
This means masks will no longer be required to be worn, aside from in healthcare and aged care facilities.
Ardern said today's announcement was a "milestone in our response".
"Finally, rather than feeling that Covid dictates what happens to us, our lives, and our futures, we take back control."
"There is no question – thousands of lives have been saved by the efforts of Kiwis.
"Be it iwi and Māori health providers, Pacifica organisations, aged care providers, businesses or the sacrifices of New Zealanders separated from loved ones, everyone played a part.
"So today, I say again to everyone, from the bottom of my heart, thank you."
Ardern said the decisions were based on health advice, with case numbers and hospitalisations the lowest they'd been since February. Vaccination levels were also high and there was increased access to anti-viral medicines, she said.
The Government would no longer require people to wear masks, however, some places – including workplaces – could still request people wear masks.
They would also be encouraged in confined spaces and among vulnerable people.
Ardern said they did not want to ask more from people than what the evidence supported.
Contacts of Covid-19 cases will no longer need to isolate. Only positive individuals will still need to isolate for seven days.
All Government vaccine mandates will end on September 26, but employers can continue their own mandates.
Travellers and air crew will also no longer be required to be vaccinated before entering the country. Testing requirements for new arrivals will also now only be encouraged.
Support will continue for workers who need to take leave due to contracting Covid-19.
All New Zealanders aged 65 and over, and Māori aged 50 and over will have automatic access to Covid anti-virals if they test positive.
Household contacts of cases would need to do a daily rapid antigen test.
With high vaccination rates and a large number of people having had the virus, it was now safe to end the vaccine mandates, Ardern said.
Testing would still be available at the border and surveillance to identify new variants.
"In short, we now move on to a simple two requirements system of masks in healthcare settings and seven days isolation for positive cases only," Ardern said.
Moving to this two-step system, Ardern said mask requirements could be "dialled up" if demanded.
Ardern said isolation requirements for cases continued to protect the most vulnerable.
Ardern said she hoped it would be the first summer where the "Covid anxiety" started to heal.
She said she'd seen the mental health impacts of Covid, and while the worst of the pandemic was over, now was time to tackle what it left behind, she said.
Public holiday to mourn Queen announced
Cabinet also met today to consider a date for a memorial service and public holiday to mark Queen Elizabeth's death.
New Zealand will mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II with a one-off public holiday on September 26.
Ardern will travel to London later this week ahead of the Queen's funeral next Monday.
The NZ Herald understands Cabinet was considering a decision to scrap the traffic light system from as soon as midnight tonight and to let one of the key Covid-19 provisions allowing the Government to make rules for Covid-19 lapse rather than renewing it.
It would mark a new stage of the Covid-19 response, which the Government has earlier said would eventually be dealt with in the same way as the flu, but with flexibility to call on stricter measures if they were justified such as because of a different variant.
There were 1149 new Covid cases reported today after numbers dipped below 1000 over the weekend.
The seven-day rolling average of cases today is 1480 while last Monday it was 1778, the Ministry of Health said in today's update.
There are 225 people in hospital with the virus, including three in intensive care. The seven-day rolling average of hospitalisations today is 241; last Monday, it was 273.
A further six Covid-related deaths have been reported, including three people aged in their 80s and three in their 90s.
Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said Cabinet would consider the health and economic assessments in making the decision.
"Our approach has been tweaked and changed all the way through in response to things to be proportionate, and so Cabinet will look at that today and make our decision.
"We have to plan for variants into the future but we also have to acknowledge that through winter our health system came under a lot of strain but we made it through.
"But we've just to make sure that we've got a fit-for-purpose response to the place we find ourselves in now."
The Covid-19 Response laws giving the Government and director general of health special powers to make rules for the Covid-19 response all have to be renewed regularly.
The traffic light system was set up under the Epidemic Preparedness (Covid-19) Notice 2020 which has been renewed by the Prime Minister every three months since March 2020. The Notice is required to be able to make orders for the Covid-19 response.
That was last renewed in June and is due to expire on September 16 unless renewed again this week – something that is usually done a few days in advance.
